NPR Talks COVID-19 Vaccine Protection with Dr. Marion Pepper

As the COVID-19 vaccine rolls out, three big questions loom. First, can someone who has been vaccinated still spread the disease? Second, will the vaccine remain effective as the virus itself evolves? And third, how long will the vaccine’s protection last?

Answers to these questions lie in our immune systems. And the answers aren’t straightforward because our immune systems are both remarkably adept and remarkably challenging to predict.

Let’s start with the first question, about whether people who are vaccinated can still spread the disease. Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington, says that’s not just an open question for this vaccine, but for vaccines in general.

“I think it’s hard to say because we’re constantly being bombarded by different pathogens and we don’t know when your immune system is responding,” she says. We may have infections that don’t make us sick, so we never know about them. But we could be spreading disease. Read more…